Something I thought about:

  • Another week that was all over the place, although scheduled this time — started with an eclipse and ended with a daylong symposium! Well, this doesn’t include the weekend and all of those activities — it’s been busy — but not the routine kind of busy that grinds you down. Sometimes I avoid going out or doing some activity because the thought of yet another thing feels exhausting — the potential cognitive load makes me step back. This week was a reminder that the little bit of extra effort can really be worth it.

Something I did:

  • Completed a little crochet project — the first in over a decade
  • Watched the NCAA women’s final — I can’t remember the last time I watched an entire bball game, and this was a fun one!
  • Saw a partial eclipse with neighbors
  • Finished a report
  • Meetings
  • PMing
  • Went to Boston DH
  • Celebrated a friend’s birthday

Something I read:

  • The Blackwoods by Brandy Colbert
  • Continued slow reads: This Little Art by Kate Briggs, Preparation of the Novel by Roland Barthes, and Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
  • Annie Dillard’s classic essay “Total Eclipse” — I’ve been sending it to everyone this week and really enjoyed rereading it!
  • And the second eclipse essay that I’ve been sending to everyone — this one by Helen Macdonald.
  • This is hilarious — 50 ways to end a poem.